The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay. (File photo/U.S. Navy)
By Troy Turner
It’s time to say goodbye to the USS Mobile Bay.
After more than 30 years of dedicated service in the U.S. Navy, the Ticonderoga class cruiser named for the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay and decommissioned in 2023 is set to be sunk as a live target in the world’s largest international naval exercise.
RIMPAC 2026, so called for being conducted in the rim of the Pacific, brings together 35 nations, approximately 40 surface ships, five submarines, more than 140 aircraft and 25,000 personnel operating throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
The exercise runs from June 24 to July 31 and has begun its sea phase where ships and crews navigate and operate together as a combined fleet. That phase is expected to culminate in a live-fire sinking of at least two decommissioned naval vessels, including the Mobile Bay, although the Navy has not released the date of when that will occur.
The Navy has moved away from its cruisers, which became outdated with the technologically advanced newer ships of the day such as the Arleigh Burke destroyers that have become the Navy’s central combat workhorse vessels.
Although the Navy invested millions of dollars in earlier attempts to refit and modernize the cruisers, it soon became evident that the expenditures were more a waste than a benefit. Thus, the Mobile Bay was pulled from the mothball fleet to be used in RIMPAC.
The live-fire exercise allows the navies involved to test their skills and specifically the effect of their munitions against the hull and deck of an actual warship.
RIMPAC 2026 is the 30th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
HISTORY OF THE USS MOBILE BAY
The following is a recap of the ship’s history as written in U.S. Navy documents:
Mobile Bay was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and commissioned Feb. 21, 1987, at Alabama State Docks in Mobile.
The ship’s operational history includes the 1989 evacuation of U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon; launching 22 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles in support of Operation Desert Storm and evacuation of thousands of people displaced by the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the vicinity of Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines during Operation Fiery Vigil in 1991.
Also, U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment seizure of 10.5 metric tons of cocaine approximately 800 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico; and launching Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
The ship’s sponsor, Kathryn Jane Maury, helped organize the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia in the 1960s after her Navy pilot husband was shot down and captured in 1965. She was married to U.S. Sen. Jeremiah Denton, a Vietnam War veteran who was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism while a prisoner of war.
USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), a Flight III Arleigh-Burke class destroyer, is named for him. Mrs. Denton passed away on Nov. 22, 2007, at the age of 81.
USS Jeremiah Denton during her christening ceremony June 28, 2025. (Photo/AlaDefense.com/Troy Turner)
The Mobile Bay was the first named after and in honor of the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. The famous American Civil War naval battle involved Union forces under the command of Adm. David Farragut and Confederate forces under Adm. Franklin Buchanan.
The ship’s motto, “Full speed ahead,” is based on Adm. Farragut’s famous command issued during the battle and typifies the Admiral’s key to success in war, straight thinking and determined action.
Mobile Bay proudly carried on the tradition of patriotism and courage displayed by the ships and Sailors in the historic battle which concluded when Farragut’s Union ships converged upon the Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee firing broadsides and ramming it at full speed with their prows.
After two hours, Tennessee was dead in the water, it’s steering gone and stack shot away, filling the gun deck with suffocating heat and flames. Only then did the wounded Buchanan give the order to surrender. Tennessee’s colors came down, concluding one of the most important battles in the Civil War.
The Mobile Bay’s sister ships, also named after famous battles, included:
USS Ticonderoga (CG-47)
USS Yorktown (CG-48)
USS Vincennes (CG-49)
USS Valley Forge (CG-50)
USS Thomas S. Gates (CG-51)
USS Bunker Hill (CG-52)
USS Antietam (CG-54)
USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55)
USS San Jacinto (CG-56)
USS Lake Champlain (CG-57)
USS Philippine Sea (CG-58)
USS Princeton (CG-59)
USS Normandy (CG-60)
USS Monterey (CG-61)
USS Robert Smalls (formerly Chancellorsville / CG-62)
USS Cowpens (CG-63)
USS Gettysburg (CG-64)
USS Chosin (CG-65)
USS Hué City (CG-66)
USS Shiloh (CG-67)
USS Anzio (CG-68)
USS Vicksburg (CG-69)
USS Lake Erie (CG-70)
USS Cape St. George (CG-71)
USS Vella Gulf (CG-72)
USS Port Royal (CG-73)
For a video explaining more details about the live-fire sinking of the USS Mobile Bay, click here.
U.S. Navy sailors take part in RIMPAC 2026. (Photo/USN)
Troy Turner is the editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be contacted at [email protected]. His bio can be found here.
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